That’s the lasting impression left by Thursday’s media frenzy in Las Vegas, where Romney steered his increasingly momentous drive for the Republican presidential nomination into the cartoon arms of a clearly delighted Donald.

Endorsements come, endorsements go — and in most elections, they don’t mean all that much. Especially coming from self-aggrandizing hype factories on the sidelines.

But in making the pilgrimage for what was essentially a ring-kissing ceremony inside Trump’s gilded hotel on the Vegas strip, Romney appears to have gone carnival barking up the wrong tree.

Barely a month ago, the real estate mogul and reality television star suffered an epic humiliation when his plans to host a presidential debate fell apart, not least because Romney wanted nothing to do with the “clown show.”

While nobody wore big red noses inside the Trump International Hotel, the effect was the same.

Romney himself picked up on the irony in his brief remarks after pronouncing himself “delighted” at the backing of the orange-haired billionaire.

“There are some things you just can’t imagine in your life,” said Romney. “This is one of them.”

Trump milked the moment for all it was worth, acknowledging his many previous criticisms of Romney in a sidebar with reporters but claiming he now knows the candidate better.

“He’s smart. He’s sharp. He’s not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country we all love,” Trump declared. “So Gov. Romney, go out and get ’em.”

With that, Trump pressed the flesh, clutching Romney with a two-hander as his head swivelled to mug for the cameras. Romney kept his part of the handshake to a single hand, all the while staring rigidly at Trump, denying photographers the two-shot.

Romney exited backstage, where his travelling entourage now includes Secret Service protection — another strong signal that while the race goes on, he is the man to beat.

But if there was any doubt who got the lift from this spectacle, Trump made his exit right through the heart of the media mob, quoting his way to the front doors of his hotel in a slow-moving scrum before hopping into one of two black Chevy Suburbans — relevant again.

Even before Thursday’s scene in Vegas, the U.S. political media were abuzz with mockery bordering on self-loathing over the premium they were paying to Trump’s pledge of a “major announcement.”

Initial reports by the Associated Press, the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, wrongly predicted he would endorse Newt Gingrich. So as the Vegas moment approached with the promise of clarity, a media circus seemed assured, even if Trump stood alone at the podium.

But the fact that Romney came to collect — a gesture he did not make two weeks ago when Jon Huntsman dropped out of the race and promptly endorsed him — gave America’s political press the excuse it needed to make this the news of the day.

Among the 75 Romney supporters at the Trump announcement was Dawson White, 38, an expat Montrealer who now lives and works in Vegas as a financial adviser.

“This doesn’t seal the deal for Romney. But I have no problem with how much coverage this is getting,” said White.

“It’s obvious now that there is a very strong chance Mitt Romney could become the next president of the United States. It’s not the reporters’ fault. He’s now a big story wherever he goes.”

Still, there was plenty of blowback after the joint appearance over the optics of Romney’s decision to so vividly re-validate the musings of the The Donald.

The move placed a megamillionaire candidate already struggling to connect with impoverished U.S. voters in the warm embrace of the country’s most bilious billionaire. It also enables President Barack Obama’s re-election machine to attach Trump’s colourful assortment of loose-cannon fire directly to Romney.

Interestingly, Fox News, the unabashed bastion of American conservatism, played down the Trump card, with one on-air host, Shepard Smith, wondering tongue-in-cheek when Shakira and Big Bird would announce their endorsements.

Fox followed up with a poll of its own that showed 6 per cent of respondents saying they would be more likely to vote for a Trump-backed candidate versus 31 per cent who said they would be less likely.

But the response from the Democratic National Committee was perhaps more telling. Rather than craft a pointed rebuttal to the Trump-Romney alliance, the Democrats simply forwarded the Romney campaign email to their press list.

Evidently, on this day, they calculated Team Romney had already done their work for them.